Team Dignitas finally has its new CS:GO team

Team Dignitas has re-entered Counter-Strike with an exciting roster pick up that consists of a who’s-who among European free agents.

At the helm of the new team is Former Ninjas in Pyjamas and Counter Logic Gaming coach Faruk “pita” Pita of Sweden, who will be the in-game leader. The England-based organization will also field Mikail “Maikelele” Bill of Sweden as the main AWPer, Ricardo “fox” Pacheco of Portugal as a rifler/secondary AWPer, Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad of Norway as a rifler, and Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel of Norway as the entry fragger.

Maikelele, jkaem, and fox join the team after playing as stand-ins for powerhouse teams such as NiP, FaZe and SK Gaming.

RUBINO, meanwhile, was dropped from North, a Danish organization owned by F.C. Copenhagen, and replaced by Philip “aizy” Aistrup shortly after the team’s top-8 finish at the ELEAGUE Major in January. RUBINO filled the role of lurker on North.

This news has come to spotlight months after Dignitas controversially decided to release the top-10 roster that won EPICENTER Moscow in October of 2016. This included Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, Kristian “k0nfig” Winecke, Rene “cajunb” Borg, and Emil “Magiskb0Y”—all of whom now play for North. Initially, Team Dignitas was “committing to building our next elite, international CS:GO team based in North America,” the organization said at the time. But it seems they’ve decided to stay in Europe for the time being.

“Team Dignitas is a powerhouse brand, now strengthened by the backing of the Philadelphia 76ers; we are extremely proud to represent their colors,” fox, who is now the captain of the new team, said in a press release. “We are eager to begin practicing with this new lineup, and we’ve all known each other a long time and believe we will have good synergy. Through hard work and preparation, we will do our best to live up to the expectations of our fans and become a top, international team.”

Team Dignitas signed an all female Counter-Strike team in late February, a move that left some fans confused. Why pick up a women’s team before an elite CS:GO roster? It’s likely this was due to a lack of North American roster choices after the organization released its Danish team.

Dignitas Female, the former-Selfless Gaming Female squad, were the runners-up at Intel Challenge Katowice, which ran the same weekend as IEM Katowice. The newly branded team showed their strength and wits throughout the group stage and in the early stages of the playoffs, but they fell short to Team Secret, who won their second consecutive championship at the event.